Wednesday afternoon: the sun is shining, there is a gentle sea breeze, and Ian and I are sitting in our hotel room looking out the window to the beautiful sea below. The island of Capri is the embodiment of relaxation and ultimate luxury. What a difference from crazy Napoli! Life on Capri is so laid back; there is no need to worry about a thing. We love it!
We arrived on the island Monday afternoon via a ferry from Napoli. The ferry ride took about 45 minutes and dropped us off (along with two huge tour groups) in the Marina Grande on the Capri side of the island. From the Marina, we took a small, orange bus up an incredibly winding and narrow road to the Anacapri side of the island where our B&B was located.
Our B&B was called Monte Solaro and it was literally situated on the side of the largest mountain on the Island of Capri: Monte Solaro. The owners of the B&B are a wonderfully kind and generous family. The son, Costanzo, picked us up in Piazza Vittoria, where the bus dropped us off, and drove us and all our luggage up the steep side of the moutnain to the B&B. He even carried my bags up the long flight of stairs to our room! We were offered a caffe and pastries upon our arrival and invited to sit on the gorgeous balcony overlooking the island and the bay. It was quite relaxing (despite the bitter wind!). After enjoying our little treat, we set off to explore the small streets of Anacapri. Because we were visiting in off season, many of the shops and restaurants are closed. But, we did get to see Villa San Michele, which was a beautiful, simple villa once owned by Axel Munthe, a well known Swedish man who helped make Capri the famous island it is today through his book The Story of San Michele. The villa was quite enchanting, and after seeing it and reading what little information was provided on Munthe I am eager to read his book about the villa (I'm a nerd...I can't help it!).Tuesday morning we woke up to a gray sky and steady drizzle. But we didn't let that stop us! We really wanted to explore Anacapri and decided to hike a well marked trail up the side of Monte Solaro. All along the trail we had beautiful views of the island, the lighthouse on the Anacapri side, and the somewhat turbulent sea. We were sheltered from the rain and wind by large trees, but the trail we followed ran alongside the steep cliffs, which dropped straight into the sea. I was too afraid to look over the edge - it was quite a drop if I lost my footing, and I'm too clumsy to trust myself on the side of a cliff! But, Ian, being the curious person he is, grabbed onto a tree and leaned over the edge. He's going to give me a heart attack one of these days! We hiked up as far as we could go before the rocks became too slippery and unsafe for hiking. Once we turned around to head back down the trail we somehow lost the marked path and ended up in someone's backyard. There was a locked gate keeping us from reaching the road, so we had to hop the fence and Ian ended up ripping his pants. (But, he is quite handy and was able to sew the rip using our emergency sewing kit. A man who knows how to sew - he's full of surprises! I think I'll keep him around.)
Once we were back on the road and out of the "woods" we realized that the storm had turned from a little drizzle and wind to a torrential downpour. By the time we walked back to the B&B, having climbed all the steps to reach it, we were soaking wet. The storm picked up and grew throughout the day. Fog rolled in and blocked our view of anything below. We stayed in our room waiting for the storm to pass, but it only seemed to get worse. The wind was so strong and the lights kept flickering. It was actually a little scary! We didn't really get to eat lunch we just ate some snacks we had in the room. We were planning to venture out around 7pm to see if we could find something to eat for dinner. However, around 5:30pm the owner of the B&B, Annamarie, stopped by our room to tell us she would be making us dinner since the storm was so bad. She implied that nothing would be open because of the weather and told us it was no problem. We were so surprised! We were expecting to brave the storm and search for dinner. But Annamarie was our savior! She even set up a table complete with a tablecloth in our room and brought us bread, cheese, and wine to snack on. She served us a homemade tortellini soup and gave us a basket of fresh fruit for dessert. I couldn't believe her hospitality and generosity! It was so incredibly kind and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
Today, Wednesday, I woke up to birds singing. The storm had subsided and the sun was making its way through the clouds. Ian and I took a bus to the Capri side of the island first thing this morning. We were very excited to be out of the room sightseeing! We explored the streets of Capri and lingered in the famous "Piazetta" or Piazza Umberto 1. Then we meandered down a path to see the very beautiful and incredible Natural Arch. Afterward, we walked up to Villa Jovis, the oldest villa on the island. It was built during the rein of Emperor Tiberius from 27-37 AD. All that is left of the villa are ancient ruins, but we were able to walk inside the ruins and imagine what it must have looked like back in the day. After a very expensive lunch (everything on Capri is expensive! There's no way to avoid it), we walked along the newly renovated Via Krupp a lovely walkway that winds up the side of the mountain. The road was reopened in 2008 after a 30 year renovation! The reward at the top of the walkway is a stunning view of the Faraglioni rocks and surrounding sea. Well worth the steep climb! After enjoying the view, we made our way back to the center of Capri and I enjoyed a small glass of the local favorite: limoncello. Limoncello is lemon liqueur that is traditionally served chilled as an after dinner digestivo. Capri is known for making wonderful limoncello, and I must agree! For dinner, we broke down and ate pizza. It's just too hard to resist Neapolitan, wood-fired pizza! As the saying goes: when in Rome (or Florence, or Naples, or Capri...)
Tomorrow morning we're heading to Vietri Sul Mare, a small town known for making beautiful and colorful ceramics. Maybe I'll find a piece to add to my collection! Either way, we're looking forward to visiting the gorgeous Amalfi coast!
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